1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a device for supplying sound to a tympanum that is introducible into an auditory canal, comprising a housing that comprises an essentially cylindrical housing section at an end facing toward the tympanum, comprising an earphone device for the output of sound signals, comprising a sound exit opening in the housing at that side of the housing facing toward the tympanum, and comprising a cerumen protection device that is integrated into the housing for protecting the earphone against cerumen penetrating through the sound exit opening. The present invention is also directed to a corresponding method for supplying sound to the tympanum.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contamination of an earphone by cerumen can occur in hearing aids as well as other earphone devices that can be at least partially inserted into the auditory canal. This frequently leads to outages of the earphone, particularly of in-the-ear hearing aids (ITE).
Open cerumen protection systems have been mainly previously utilized for solving this problem, so that the cerumen cannot proceed to the earphone without further efforts. However, such open cerumen protection systems cannot always prevent the contamination of the earphone.
As an alternative solution, the German patent document DE 196 40 796 A1 discloses a hearing aid in which the earphone is closed off from the tympanum by a membrane. International Patent Application WO-A-0045617 likewise discloses a treatment device that has a sound exit opening that is sealed by an acoustically transmissive, watertight film. The membrane that shields the earphone from the auditory canal, however, is comparatively small, so that clearly perceptible attenuations of the sound to be transmitted from the earphone to the tympanum occur.
German Published Application DE 101 04 129 A1 also discloses a hearing aid with filter unit. The filter unit serves for protection against cerumen and has a planar, membrane-like or sieve-like filter unit. When the filter element is implemented slanted, a larger, effective transmission area for the sound can be created, where the risk of blockage or contamination of the filter element is additionally reduced due to the inclination and the larger effective area. Angles of inclination between 45° and 90° are preferred. In the latter instance, the planar filter element lies along the central sound direction.